The combustion of fossil fuels in activities such as the electricity generation, transportation, and manufacturing produces billions of tons of carbon dioxide annually. Research since the 1970s indicates increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may be responsible for altering the Earth's climate, changing the pH of the ocean and other potentially damaging effects. Countries around the world, including the United States, are seeking ways to mitigate emissions of carbon dioxide.
Converting carbon dioxide into economically valuable materials (e.g., fuels and/or industrial chemicals) offers an attractive strategy for mitigating carbon dioxide emissions. For many years, researchers have attempted to use electrochemistry and/or photochemistry to convert carbon dioxide to economically valuable products. However, existing methods for the conversion of carbon dioxide suffer from many limitations, including the stability of systems used in the process, the efficiency of systems, the selectivity of the systems or processes for a desired chemical, the cost of materials used in systems/processes, the ability to control the processes effectively, and the rate at which carbon dioxide is converted. No commercially available solutions for converting carbon dioxide to economically valuable fuels or industrial chemicals currently exist.